Final Project- Strengths Finder

My Top Five Strengths:

Input

This is definitely a strength that most people who I shared this list with identified with me. I am always looking for or thirsting for more information. On my phone two of my favorite apps are Wikipanion and IMDB. Whenever a question come up as to background on something, or if people are wondering where they know an actor from I can run to those apps. They meet my need to know the answer. I am constantly Googling or reading up on little things. My brain is filled with information that most people would not be interested in knowing, but it is what is huge to me. The action that I see taking with this is I have always been an “ideas guy.” I am always thinking big picture and thinking out loud. It fits with what I want to do. I just want to be involved with people and I love conversing with them. I can definitely use this strength in ministry or in any job I find myself in the future. A desire for information is something that can really help me to be a better communicator and think and present ideas different than other people can.

Adaptability

This is also something that is a very big part of who I am. It allows me to be very beneficial in whatever environment I am put in. I have always been the one who is able to think on my feet. When I am put in a stressful environment, I can always think on my feet. Some people are not able to think on their feet like that, and so high stress situations don’t work out for them and ministry will be incredibly aggravating to them. There also can be a downside to this strength. While I am able to think on my feet and work with what is happening, I don’t tend to be a planner. It is something that I have always struggled with. I am great with moving and adapting, but I am not always able to think ahead and plan. So one thing I will have to work on is making sure I have a team or person who is helping me formulate plans. I can role with the punches when I need to, but I need to be thinking ahead too so that I am not always having to think on my feet.

Empathy

I don’t know that all of this one is entirely true about me. I am not very good at perceiving when other people are down in the dumps unless I am exposed to them for a long time. The rest of it however I saw and other people saw that it rang true with me. For the most part I am all about helping people, and if you ask any of the pastors or mentors I have had in my life they will tell you that one of the biggest burdens that I have on my heart is that I want everyone to know that they are important and that they all play a part in this world. It is my hearts desire for everyone to know that they are valuable and that someone cares for them. I feel like in ministry I can put this one into practice very easily because this is the central thrust of the Gospel. However I will have to focus not to get caught up in other people. I tend to have the problem where when someone is hurting I cant let go until they are fixed, but that isn’t healthy for me or them, so I will have to be cautious to not fall into that trap.

Ideation

I and other people were surprised that this wasn’t the number one strength on my list. Most people saw me as defined by this one maybe more so than the others. Like I said before I am an “Ideas guy” and this probably has something to do with my upbringing because that is exactly who my dad is as well. I feel like this one will and has been easy to put into practice in ministry as well. I have been the one who is always coming up with new sermon series or topics from a quote or story that I hear. I have folders of sermon illustrations on my computer of random stories and facts because I can connect them to a higher purpose. I have always been on that people have wanted on their creative panels and teams. And just like this description of me said I am very much into politics, humanitarian aid and the arts. I think it is because of this strength that I relate so well to that category, and why it interests me so much. It is all about different original ideas and seeing things in different ways.

Connectedness

This is another one that I didn’t know that I saw in myself by the title, but once I read the description it hits dead on with me. I am very aware of the connections between people and events, and that is why I feel like I live my life the way that I do. I am not a huge rule breaker or rebel, because while people are thinking about knocking things off a shelf in a grocery store I am thinking about the person who will have to come by later and clean it up. I feel like more so than any other strength this helps me relate to people, because I can see their connection and I can understand the link we all have. So I can truly feel for them and be genuine in my heart for them. I am always trying to link people together and mentoring is something that is close to my heart because it is one of my core strengths. I am always looking for ways to show people that we are all the same and that we all matter because I can see how we are connected at such a basic and amazing level.

Richard Curtis

It is always interesting to me to see someone who isn’t in the churches view on problems in the world. Something that really resounded with me is when he talked about that all he needed to do to get people to really feel for other people who are less fortunate then them is to simply show them. It made me think. What if we all could really see into the lives of those people around us. We have so many people in our church that are going through something and it is just an amazing thought to think how much more we would care if really knew what they were going through.

The one thing that he said was the strongest thing in getting to empathize was longer shots that were more of a view into what was actually happening in the peoples lives. He didn’t want to shoot montages of emotional short shots. I feel like it is the same with us. The way that we will become sympathetic is if we truly know what is happening in the lives of the people around us. That’s one thing that I took away from what he said was that if we really have an eye for the pain of the world around us we would want nothing more than to help.

Ken Cooper

Ken cooper to me is the image of someone who has had their life changed by God. So often we as Christians claim a radical relationship with God, but that s evident in the life of Ken. The thing that stood out with me was not his past, but how he is so willing to serve. I feel like that is one of the biggest signs of discipleship is that we are willing to put aside our time and reach out in any way that we can. His life and his efforts reflect the inner change in himself.

I feel like serving shows we are being discipled, because unlike any other gift it shows that we are submissive to Christ and helping his kingdom advance in whatever ways that we can. We begin to shine out the fact that we understand what Christ did for us and that he calls us to love however we can, and Ken Cooper is one of the more shining examples of that fact that I have met. He was and is willing to help call people on behalf of the church even though it isn’t the most glorious job, but because people needed help. Being willing to serve seems to be what Christ was about and that can be seen in Ken Cooper’s life.

George Krebs

This man truly blew me away as he spoke about his view on discipleship. I totally agree with his view. He was very big on the fact that as you disciple people you should do it in small groups over common interests. He is big on building relationships and friendships without extra motives, but that through your life they will be able to see Christ and his light in your life. So often we build friendships to lead people to Christ, but his take is that we should just build friendships and Christ will deal with the rest. We shouldn’t be getting to know people strictly so that we can share Christ with them, but because we care about them, and in that overflow of caring we will be able to share the love of God with them.

On another note as he openly shared with us about his current situation you could tell that he was a true disciple and a truly devoted follower of Christ. Even as he sat there and he told us about the hard times of life and how they can be gut wrenchingly tough he was still able to smile and talk about the prize awaiting him in heaven. That in and of itself was a true example of his beautiful and wonderful discipled relationship with Christ.

Amanda Anderson

Amanda comes from a large church setting which is something I am not entirely used to, and so have in the past been very skeptical about, but it seemed to me that this church was doing things well. Something that I always have issue with the “big box churches” is that a lot of times I feel like people can come in and go out and fade under the radar, and they are simply just a number, they are never involved or never do anything to help, but I didn’t see that from this church.

There were a couple of things that I liked about the way this church did things. They were intentional that the visitors would be called every week and would immediately have a chance to get plugged in. They made a connection so people didn’t feel like they were a number, but rather that they were cared for by this church. The other thing I really like was that they called the people who were out of church that week who were regular attendees. This showed me that not only were they concerned about growth but also the relationships that are built in this church are very close and the church actually cares about its members. For a big church I feel like they are doing things well.

Deb Bube

This was an interesting look at discipleship. It was from a different perspective because the people that Deb was working with were already in church and this was more or less phase two for them. This, for them, wasn’t really about taking people to a place where they could make a decision about Christ, but this was more about taking them to a place where they could take their decision and put it into action in helping the church. The people that she is working with are moving forward and taking a step that so few do, but is such a huge sign of internal working. I feel like one of the things that is huge when it comes to people being disciples is they need to be willing to lend a hand.

That is where Deb is working. She works with those who are trying to take the internal discipleship and focus it outward. Once Christ has changed who we are we should see that joy overflow in our lives and we should start to pour that love and joy out, through helping others. A true heart that is changed will constantly be looking to show love and help in any way that they can.

Dave Barnett

This guy was very interesting to me both as a pastor and a person. He was very enthusiastic and sold out to his perspective on the church and how it functioned, or at least should function. It was so interesting to hear him pour out his heart on it. I really think there is a lot of potential when it comes to his style of church and I think that it could allow a lot of Growth and a lot of community. I am always interested in small group movements, because that is how the early church started.

I worry about though that it could run dry or become stagnant. If it is in constant connection to God then yes it should work, but it is made up of people and what happens when they drop the ball or when someone comes unprepared. Maybe I am thinking from a skewed perspective, but that is something that I wonder. That may just be the fact that I have grown up in a denominational mindset and it also may be because it is new to me, but where are the checks and balances? I love small groups and I love their ministry, but sometimes I wonder what happens if one goes off course and has nobody to help them find the tracks again?

Disciple Making Interviews with Pastors

(For this I interviewed 2 Pastors, one with lots of experience, one who was new in the ministry, a small group leader, as well as discussed the topic with my 7 roommates who are all involved in ministry in different facets and in different fellowships.)

There were a couple of things that I learned from the People that I interviewed for this assignment that were really interesting things for me. The first one is that when I asked “What is the process for Disciple making?” Like we have been finding out in this class everyone has a very different view on how to disciple and a different process by which we make disciples. One of the pastors had a very set up perspective on how to develop disciples, while another pastor who was new in the ministry I interviewed was very relationship based when it came to how to develop disciples. The one thing that came out of all the pastor’s and small group leaders no matter how much experience they had that I interviewed was that they all based their methods for developing disciples no matter how structured or non structured their approaches were they all based on the importance of relationship. They talked a lot about the importance of relationships in a lot of different areas. For one the relationship is what keeps that person in your life, and keeps you connected to them. Through this relationship in the process of making them a disciple you can learn their strengths and weaknesses, and any potential faults and danger areas to work on them with. Then the relationship is also the way that you are able to pour into them. The whole idea of making someone a disciple is to essential mold them into being like someone else, and so having a relationship with them is the easiest way to be in their lives and make that connecting with them. Without a relationship with them how are you going to be close enough in their lives in order to pour into them and teach them about life? The other interesting thing was the amount of people that each pastor recommended trying to disciple. One of them had the perspective that you personally shouldn’t be trying to disciple more that three people at a time, while another pastor suggested no more than ten or so in more of a small group setting.

One of the other things that I found interesting comes from my second question. I asked the pastors, “what are some of the biggest challenges that you face when you go about making disciples?” All the pastors said that some of their biggest issues that they faced all came from people being willing to go through the process or being willing to change as needed. So often you have people who wish to be part of a discipleship program or who want to be made into a disciple, but when it comes down to it they don’t want to put in the work that it takes. One pastor commented that being made into being like Jesus isn’t easy, so it is huge to be willing to go through that process, and it isn’t easy. So that was probably the biggest problem that any of them run into, being able to keep someone all the way through the process.

How can they measure their effectiveness? Effectiveness to them was not measured in are the people that they discipled leading million person conferences, but rather, are the people that they are discipling walking one step closer to Christ then they were when the whole process started? Are they different and are they more like Christ. It is interesting to me that all of these pastors had different styles of how to get to this point, but the idea was the same. They know that in discipling people their goal is not to make them 100 percent different people, but to bring them at least one step closer to God and being like Jesus. If they do that then they feel like they have won and have been effective.

People as I am learning all have different ways to disciple, but when it comes down to it, as long as the people under them are learning to be like Jesus then it is effective and worth while. Whether they are going through a structured program, or a simple relationship based group, as long as they are getting to the same place then these pastor’s would all call it a win.

Even the People that I talked to briefly about this, but didn't do a formal interview with emphasized that point too. The idea is to lead people to Jesus, and however that is being done will ultimately determine who is being discipled. People are all different in their approaches, and as long as Jesus is the end point then the structure ultimately doesn't matter.

Andy Stanley

I liked what he said in this section of the talk, where he focused on the three different steps to making vision stick. He talked about casting it, celebrating it, and living it. He then went into explaining what each one of these things was and how they played crucial roles in making vision stick. He had a lot of good things to say about casting the vision, and celebrating it, but what stuck with me most was what he said about living it.

So often we are asking people to do something in our vision that doesn’t excite us, it isn’t something that we would want to do ourselves. I think the biggest thing that we can do to get people to go with our vision is making it real in our lives. If they can see that it is something that we have as part of our lives and something that we are putting into effect in our own personal walks then they will be more likely to get on board with it. We can’t ask them to be part of a vision that we ourselves are not willing to be a part of. So until we can live our vision it won’t stick with other people.

Stephen Defrain and Don heller

One of the things that Stephen said that really hit with me was he talked about that so often the problem with the church is that we go into the community, and we expect people to help us out. We go out to stores and ask for donations, and we go to places and ask them to give us things to help us out, but is that what the church was really called to do, is that what we are supposed to do. I am not saying that every church is leaching from the community, but some of the churches out there are always take, take, take, and they never give.

We shouldn’t be the kind of church that is trying to cut corners, or who is trying to get out the cheap way. Now that doesn’t mean that we should be loose with our money and that we shouldn’t be responsible with what we have, but we shouldn’t hoard it, we need to be using it to bless each other. We need to be the church that is not trying to do things and take advantage of people in order to get the most out of what we can by walking on the community around us. That is not showing the light of Christ. We need to be trying to bless the community. They already have a bad taste of church in their mouths and it is our job to change that, but we need to be showing the light all the time, not just when they are on our turf.

Jess Bousa

There were a lot of different things that interested me about Jess Bousa. It was interesting to me that at such a young age he has written a book on discipleship, and because I have not read the book I can not comment on it or its content, but I just wonder what experiences or influences he is pulling on to understand such a deep topic. He made a lot of Good points, but like I said I wonder if his lack of experience has affected his attempts at all, or if he has found any hindrances in publishing his book or writing it because of his earliness in ministry.

There was one thing that he said which really caught me though. He said essentially the simpler something is the easier it is to replicate it. In other words it could be said that just because something is needed or a good idea doesn’t mean that we need to complicate it. We need to make something that is easy to replicate, and so if we want to disciple people and get them to that point of being a holistic Christian we need to make sure that they are capable of doing all of this, but in order to do that we need to make sure that we aren’t complicating it past their abilities.

Christ wasn’t complicated when it came to his teachings he wasn’t complicated in how he discipled. Christ poured his life into twelve others, and that is what we need to make sure that we are doing.

Portrait of a Disciple

Well yesterday I made the biggest mistake of my life, and did the worst thing I could have possibly done. I betrayed the only man who ever saw my full potential, the man I called teacher, the man I have been learning under for three years of my life, the man they call Jesus.

Jesus knew I would be the one who betrayed him, and the one who ultimately lead him to the torture and the cross where he died today. He knew I would be the one who sold him to the authorities, but that didn’t change how he taught me that didn’t change how he discipled me.

One thing that he did with me that didn’t ever do with me is that I never felt inferior, I never felt like he was pushing me away. He taught me by teaching me like he taught everyone else. He built relationships with all of us. We all had our flaws and we all had our setbacks, but that didn’t keep him from loving us and reaching out to us. He built a relationship with us and taught us all despite how he knew we were going to fail and where we all had struggles. We were all going to fail and we were all going to miss the mark, yet he still discipled us, and in the midst of our failings he encouraged us and taught us through lessons and parables, when he was teaching the crowds we were also learning.

I can’t believe he hung around with us or that he even called us to follow him. We were not scholars, we had been sent home from rabbinical school, we were not great minds, nor were we great people. He was the king, and now I see that, but yet he chose us, and that makes no sense to me why he did that. So often we frustrated him and we drove him crazy. We frustrated him and we drove him to the end of his rope. We would run away or forget to trust him and yet he would still love us and still build relationships with us no matter what we did or how terribly we fell apart he still poured his life and time into us. We were his disciples, and he discipled us with his love, with his understanding, and by building relationships, no matter whether we fell or not.

Something happened the other day that now that I am thinking about it truly blew me away. Before we sat down to effectively what would be our master’s “last supper” he took a cloth and a basin of water, and he knelt down and insisted on washing all of our feet. He started with Peter, and he washed all of our feet, including mine. He knew I was going to betray him, and he knew I had already been to the Sanhedrin and had taken their money to betray him, and yet he washed my feet. He was so focused on building a relationship with me that he loved me through everything I did or was going to do.

Now I sit here, and for thirty pieces of silver I betrayed the one I called master. The very one who called me to follow him and built a relationship with me, I walked away from for 30 pieces of silver. I know that no matter what I do he will still love me but I can’t take this guilt anymore. I have to give this money back; no money is worth the life of my savior. I can’t live with this regret and this shame anymore. What have I done? What have I done!?

Bob Hulett

I really liked the position that Bob took on the church. I feel like it is really a great position to be in when it comes to the church making an influence on this world. It was hard to get a true and deep feel to what some of his thoughts were or where they would go if more deeply understood, because he is a lot like me and tended to jump from topic to topic, but all of those topics were interesting.

I liked what he had to say about being intentional about setting up opportunities for people to interact with God, but first they need to have a first positive experience with church. If the first time that we bring someone to the church and they have a bad experience, then what is going to make them want to come back or even have an experience with the God who is at the center of this thing. We need to make sure that we are putting a good face on the church. People don’t want to interact with a church that is negative or doesn’t seem to be a positive thing. We need to be reaching out and people need to be seeing the church as positive. We want them to experience the God we serve, but first we need to make sure that the God we serve is seen in our lives and that he is something that they would want, and something that they feel they need because they can see the beauty and life that it has brought to our lives.

Dr. Mcnaughton

I really enjoyed the talk that we had with Dr. McNaughton on Tuesday night. I really enjoyed his approach to discipleship, and I feel like he has a really good grasp and outlook on discipleship. We talked a little bit about his earlier life and how when he was searching for answers it was hard for him to find them because he didn’t have anyone to disciple him and helping him find those answers.

That is where my question came in. I asked “do you think that if you had had someone to disciple you would it have made it easier to find those answers and do you think that is something we lack in the church?” To which he of course said yes to both of those questions, and I would totally agree with him.

I feel like one of the big things that we are missing in the church is that pouring into each other, that sharing our wisdom from those further along to those who are still struggling and who are still asking questions. I feel like we need to set up a system of discipling and pouring into each other. That is how we learn. We should be helping each other find the truth. There are those of us who are further along on the journey who should be lending our hands to helping those who are still asking questions. Christ discipled a few and helped them further understand and we are called to do the same thing. It is something we are lacking and something we need to be better at doing.

Tom Rees

It was a really interesting to hear the story of Tom Rees and get a chance to discuss how that really reflected and influenced his life as he continued to grow up. Through his childhood he has multiple father figures in his life and as he told his story it was clear that his relationships with his father figures really shaped his life.

I have talked with people before who have taken events similar to those in Tom’s life and used them as a crutch or as an excuse as to why they aren’t required to try in life, but this was not what I gathered through Tom’s story.

We talked a lot about how his father figures influenced his life. It was encouraging to hear Tom talk about how that didn’t paralyze him in his life, but rather he had to deal with the issues that arose from it, but it pushed him to go deeper and do more for the kingdom and that was a really interesting to hear, that something like that doesn’t have to freeze you in your walk, but it can drive you further, and that is always something we need to hear, and something we need to be reminded of. Sure the things in our past come with different things that we need to work through, but those things should propel us forward rather than hold us back.